PALNI HILLS CONSERVATION COUNCIL JUNE '91 6th ANNUAL REPORT (1990-91) OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE PALNI HILLS CONSERVATION COUNCIL. --------- The PHCC's Executive Committee met 12 times between June '90 and May '91. In the last AGM, the following Executive Committee members and office bearers were elected for 90-91. They are: 1. Mr. Zafar Futehally -- President 2. Fr. K.M. Matthew -- Vice President 3. Mr. Navroz Mody -- Vice President 4. Mrs. Zai Whitaker -- Secretary 5. Mr. T. Rajkumar -- Joint Secretary 6. Mr. C. Jeyakaran -- Treasurer 7. Mr. M.S. Viraraghavan -- Executive Committee member 8. Mr. Rom Whitaker -- Executive Committee member 9. Mr. R. Kannan -- Executive Committee member 10. Mr. V.R. Rajagopal -- Executive Committee member 11. Dr. Rauf Ali -- Executive Committee member 12. Mrs. Girija Viraraghavan -- Executive Committee member 13. Mrs. Pippa Mukherjee -- Executive Committee member 14. Mrs. Jaima Mani -- Executive Committee member 15. Mrs. Chandra Sankar -- Executive Committee member 16. Mr. Jean Pouyet -- Executive Committee member 17. Mrs. Laeeq Futehally -- Co-opted member 18. Mr. David Nagel -- Co-opted member Membership: The total membership of the PHCC as on 31.3.91 is as follows: ---------- 1. Life members -- 100 2. Ordinary members -- 72 3. Institutional members -- 3 ------ Total- 175 ----- The main activities of the past year are reported below : National Wastelands Development Board Project : ---------------------------------------------- One of the more important projects undertaken by PHCC is the tree planting, both in the plains and in the hills. This project suffered a setback in the early months of this financial year because of delays in receiving grants from the Government. However a sum of approximately Rs. 16.52 Lakhs was sanctioned in December '90 for planting 3.5 lakh seedlings in 200 hectares, and we have been able to go ahead with the original scheme. Work is in progress in Athoor, Nilakottai, and Kudhiraiyar. One problem is that of plastic bags, as the price has shot up from Rs. 18/- per kg in 1987 to Rs. 62/- per kg in 1991. Seven nursery sites have been identified in the hills in addition to the existing ones. Though there was a delay in receiving grants from the Government, we were fortunate that the Indo-German Social Service Society(IGSSS) gave us a grant of Rs. 180.000/- which enabled us to save and replant the seedlings in stock with us. All in all, the NWDB project is doing well, in spite of the shortage of funds, and it is hoped that Government support will continue during the current year. SIDA-Kadavakurichi Interface Forestry Project: --------------------------------------------- We continue to have fruitful collaboration with SIDA and a project has been formulated for assessing the ecological potential of Tiger Hill. This involves a survey of the number of people who make use of the vegetation on the hill, in order to determine how this potential can be improved by better land use practices. The socio-economic and the footpath and vegetation survey have been completed. The survey is being done in 105 plots which have been identified in the Kadavakurichi area. The date gathered is being entered in a computer at the SIDA office in Madras. We hope that by the end of May, the preparation of the management plan will be completed. The sale of seedlings to farmers is an encouraging development. Intercare Small Farmers Tree Planting Project: --------------------------------------------- This project has been doing well. Almost 70,000 seedlings are being maintained in the project nursery. As a result of continuing contact with the farmers, their land use practices have improved, the erosion has been reduced and the water holding capacity of the land is now much better. Vilpatti Village Project - Intercare: ------------------------------------ The Vilpatti Village Project supported by the International Child Care Trust(Intercare) has been making good progress. The creche now has a total of 55 children; the clinic attends to approximately 30 patients per day; the tailoring unit has produced good embroidery material and dressess for sale, and a new tailoring teacher has been appointed to design baby clothes and other items. Rag doll patterns have been requested for from England, and it is hoped that Mrs. Christine Cox will bring them with her when she comes on the 10th April, 1991. Intercare sanctioned 5600 to start a carpentry training centre for three years. The training period will be for 6 months, and 15 boys will be taken in hand, at the end of the training each boy will get Rs. 1000/- worth of carpentry tools. A mushroom project has been started with the help of the Agricultural University, Madurai. In collaboration with the Gandhigram Rural University, an attempt is being made to produce envelopes, files, boards, seminar folders, and other items with paper supplied by the Gandhigram Rural University. It is hoped that with a total investment of Rs. 75,000/-, 25 women and 3 men can be made permanent employees. PHCC is grateful to Intercare for funding this project entirely and if things go according to plan, it could become a self-supporting project after two to three years. Root Zone Cleaning System: ------------------------- This project is for recycling of waste water by natural plants. This project is funded by BUND, in Germany. The project is now in the initial stage, and specimen collection and water analysis is going on. In February, Mr. Thomas Kuby, Senior Planning Officer of GTZ, Germany visited our project in Shenbaganur, and an interim report on the project has been sent to the GTZ. Kodai Lake Case: --------------- PHCC's case against the State and Central Government for the illegal construction at Sterling Resorts is still awaiting the Report of the Expert Committee appointed by the Madras High Court. The issue, as PHCC has repeatedly stressed, highlights the arbitrary and illegal manner in which numerous constructions have been permitted by the local authorities till recently. At stake in this matter, is also the issue of the rights of the citizen to hold the administration and Government responsible for malafide actions which adversely effect the community. Sustainable Development Project: ------------------------------- In collaboration with Development Alternatives, New Delhi, a fairly comprehensive project has been drawn up for the ecological restoration of the Palni Hills. This involves improvement of the vegetation cover, identifying activities which are in concensus with environmental protection, identifying the causes for depletion of the water supply, studies on wildlife, educating the local population on the advantages of conservation and so on. The draft proposals have been sent for funding to the Asian Development Bank and other Foundations in Europe and America. WWF-India has agreed to give an initial donation, so that a start can be made from April, 1991. If this project materialised in the way in which it is envisaged, it will become one of the most important projects of PHCC, and is likely to have a very beneficial impact on the environment of the Palni Hills. The ultimate objective is to develop an eco-development plan which takes into account the principles of ecology as well as the economic reality on the ground. The accelerating pace of ecological degradation in the Palni Hills calls for urgent conservation action, but information on the Palni Hills eco-system is inadequate. In order to design proper intervention aimed at ecologically sound activities, it is essential to undertake a resource inventory, and this will be the first activity of the project. Government Institutions: ----------------------- Three important bodies relating to conservation in the hills have been constituted by the Government. One is the Tamil Nadu Forest Advisory Board which was reconstituted on 30th Oct. '89 by the Department of Environment and Forests. Among the 12 Non Official members, Mr.M.S.Viraraghavan represents our Council. The other important body is the Palni Hills Watershed Management Board in which Mr.Navroz Mody represents our Council. In the meeting held on 12.9.90, Navroz Mody enphasized the importance of conserving the catchment of the Kodaikanal Reservoir as well as of the sholas in and around Kodai Town. The Hill Areas Conservation Authority was constituted on 2nd April, 1990, and its functions as listed under Govt order are very much in consonance with the ideas of our Council. For e.g. 1) "To prepare an environmental report of the hill areas and keep it updated every 3 years; 2) to undertake continued monitoring of ecological parameters; 3) to prepare a structural development plan indicating the carrying limits of the hills and propose alternatives to the hill population where reasonable economical development cannot be locally provided without serious overall damage". As far as can be judged from correspondence, this Authority has not yet started functioning, and our Council will attempt to motivate it in any manner of which it is cabable. Grant of Rs.50,000/- from Dr.Miss.Rachel Reuben: ----------------------------------------------- PHCC is most grateful to Dr.Miss.R.Reuben for this donation. We intend to purchase a plot of land in the foothills where a Research and Publicity Centre can be established. This will be a conservation memorial to Mr. David Reuben. HILL AREA LAND MANAGEMENT ------------------------- This year, as part of a grant from NWDB, to PHCC has started a programme of raising seedlings at 7 centres in the hills. The programme in the plains will also continue with decentralized nurseries surrounding the existing programme areas in the plains. PHCC hopes to cover about 1000 acres through this programme during 1991-92. Although the greatest urgency requires that the watersheds of the Western Ghats be protected from further damage - principally by commercial Eucalyptus as wattle plantations and by crop cultivation on steep slopes - very little effort is being made by the Government to preserve this vital source of water. The PHCC Hill Area Programme plans to make available a wide variety of fruit, timber and fuelwood trees to small farmers to enable them to convert landuse from potato growing to horticulture and dairying. The PHCC also aims through these nurseries to reintroduce endangered species of plants so that the widest capabilities of this natural resource system are harnessed. For example the Cahe(C.strictus) and Boswellia (frankincance) are only two of mumerous species now almost totally extinct from the Palni Hills, which hold promise of enormous employment potential, not to mention several medicinal plants and hitherto unexploited food crops, etc. With adequate support for such a programme PHCC hopes to promote 25-30 such nurseries in the coming years in the hope of making an impact on the privately held lands in the hills. A list of the current nurseries and seedlings is given below: I. Hill Centres: Seedlings target Peaches ------------- ------- 1. Kodaikanal(Amarville) 30,000 10,000 2. Vilpatti 10,000 7,500 3. Pallangi Kombai 10,000 5,000 4. Pethuparai - Up 20,000 -- 5. Pethuparai - Down 12,500 -- 6. Prakashapuram 12,500 7,500 7. Gundupatty (Puduputhur) 20,000 15,000 --------------------------------- 1,15,000 45,000 --------------------------------- II. Plains Centres: Seedlings target -------------- ---------------- 1. Odukkam 52,175 2. Nilakottai i) Veelinayakanpatty 28,031 ii) Pappinayakanpatty 34,833 3. Athoor i) Main Road 25,000 ii) Kombai 30,000 iii) K.S.Dam 5,000 4. Kuthiraiyar i) Nursery No. 1 41,750 ii) Nursery No. 2 35,800 ----------- Total 2,52,589 ------------ I. Hill Centres total ---- 1,60,000 II. Plains Centres total ---- 2,52,589 ----------- Over all total- 4,12,589 ----------- Wattle with ground cover ------------------------ Kodaikanal Lake Case: The Expert Committee appointed by the Madras High Court to investigate PHCC's allegations has unequivocally stated that M/S Carlton Hotels and M/S Sterling Holiday Resorts as well as some other establishments are polluting the lake. The Committee has made far-reaching recommendations for the preservation of the lake and particularly the watershed of Bombay Shola which is the only perennial source for Kodai Lake. PHCC will now pursue the matter once the courts open. The Woodlands Trust As a gesture of moral support, and perhaps in the hope that PHCC might attempt to set up something similar, some English friends have sent us a great deal of information about the "Woodland Trust". Started in 1972, the Trust had a simple aim, "to safeguard trees". Once formed, the Woodland Trust acted quickly and its first purchase was the 100 acre Avon Valley Woods, "threatened at that time with clear felling and replacement with conifers". Since then the Trust has bought 420 woods, ranging from forests of about 400 acres to plots of half an acre with one magnificent tree. You can either give donations of any size towards the general fund; or for any specific piece of woodland and, "for just 1, the Woodland Trust... will plant a tree for you, and care for it as it grows"... For 25, "you can make an even bigger contribution to our future landscape" - by choosing some of the trees to be planted in the new woodlands which the Trust is creating. The work of the Trust is obviously carried on with English energy and English good sense. "When the Trust acquires a woodland, its first tasks are to repair and replace stils and gates and to ensure that grazing stock are excluded by sound fencing. Footpaths may be made if none existed previously. The Trust aims to find local people willing to act as voluntary wardens for each wood. Planting is often necessary within woodland when natural regeneration is not occurring or is of unwanted species. As far as possible species already present in the wood or in the locality are planted.... In addition to the management of existing woodlands the Trust has a role in planting new woods to replace those cleared for ** and development and to enhance the landscape where none grew previously. It always aims to plant species native to the locality and suited to the prevailing site conditions... Almost all woodland properties are open to the public. The Trust always seeks to raise as much money as possible before a woodland purchase is completed, but if necessary a bank loan is sometimes arranged.... That these methods work is shown by the number of woodlands now safeguarded for future generations.." Perhaps it is too optimistic to think that this kind of scheme could be emulated in India at the present time. But the aims of the Palni Hills Conservation Council are not dissimilarit is propagating and planting lakhs of saplings of local and forest tree species. -------- Restoration of Biological Diversity in a section of the Western Ghats: A project undertaken by the Ecological Society, Pune: Extracts from a report by Prakash Gole, 1990. The area chosen was a part of the catchment area of a dam (Pamshet dam) built in the hills - about 45 kms west of Pune. A study carried out in 83-85 showed that "many years of misuse have degraded the soil, devastated vegetation, and water, though available at the doorstep cannot be used by the inhabitants for either drinking, sanitation or irrigation". In 1986 the project began to reverse this situation and try to restore some of the natural vegetation cover to these slopes. Highlights of the findings: 1. In(northern) Western Ghats most of the hill-slopes show degraded vegetation due to the practice of shifting cultivation and grazing cattle and goats in the wild. Indigenous flora survive in small patches of forest protected by popular sentiment as Sacred Groves. 2. The process of restoration of natural vegetation begins as soon as a measure of protection against grazing and cutting is provided to the degraded hill-slopes. Dicotyledon-type herbs revive immediately. Clumps of "weeds" such as Lantana camara also show a quick revival. 3. In the next stage leguminous plants take hold in the soil and clumps of "weeds" nurture seedlings of indigenous species. Grasses assert slowly over the herbaceous flora. Earthworms begin colonizing the soil. 4. In the third stage indigenous plants nurtured by weedy shrubs assert over them and the growth of plants such as Lantana camara is arrested. The number and variety of herbaceous flora decline. Better quality grasses that were suppressed by uncontrolled grazing show good growth where soil cover is good and compete successfully with coarse grasses. The number of nesting birds and breeding butterflies increases. The Index of Diversity in the Project area was found to have increased from 32.46 in June 1987 to 147.46 in June 1989 and 180.34 in September 1987 to 336.79 in September 1989. 5. Where shifting cultivation and grazing were practised without a break, the soil had lost its water-holding capacity. Only a few hardy plants like Acacia auriculiformis, Cassia siamea and Gliricidia sepium can survive in such soil without irrigation. 6. It is important that such land be protected for an initial period of 3 to 5 years and soil conservation and moisture rentention measures taken before horticulture is introduced. 7. The success of the process of restoration depends on social reform, such as people abandoning the practice of shifting cultivation, and letting their cattle loose in the hills to graze. If such reforms come into practice immediately, the cost of restoration can be as low as Rs.3600-4000 per hectare, per year. If the present practices continue, the cost will be at least Rs.6000 per hectare per year and is likely to increase steeply as long as these practices continue. There is reason to believe that if the protection that we could give were better, or if we were successful in persuading the local people to stall-feed their cattle and goats, natural regeneration would be faster even when the rainfall was below the average as it was in 2 out of the 4 seasons that we worked in the project area. With the process of natural regeneration having full scope, the forest would become qualitatively better, though not necessarily providing greater income to the people. According to our observations a hectare of hilly area in this part of Western Ghats, if protected well, yields 30 saplings of Acacia catechu, 16 of Bombax ceiba, 8 of Albizea procera, 6 of Careya arbores, 4 of Bridelia retusa, 2 of Terminalia chebula and 1 of Terminalia belerica every season. This has happened in the Project area and if these are protected and nurtured, the process of forest regeneration will be accelerated. In a degraded area like the one under the project, all these species that are naturally coming up as the area is slowly being transformed from xeric to mesic conditions, may not yield economic gains in the short run. But if protected over a period of 20 to 25 years, the economic importance of the forest is likely to increase at an exponential rate. In the longer run, such forest could be more valuable as most of our indigenous flora are known for their medicinal value. It could also yield other forest produce and provide raw material for cottage industries. Also it would be a far better place for the wild animals and birds than any man-made forest or plantation. Lastly this could be achieved at a far smaller cost than at present. The greening of our hills therefore, hinges to a greater degree on the reform of our social practices than on any other factor. Indeed the people who live in the hills at present, are thrown further away from the national mainstream, lead a miserable life, spend most of their time in unproductive pursuits, are without proper education and hence unknowingly inflict a far greater harm on the ecology of the hills than would otherwise be the case. For their economic as well as social uplift, it is necessary that people are weaned from the practice of shifting cultivation and the practice of letting their cattle loose in the hills. As has been pointed out in this study, these cattle yield very little milk or dung and people waste their income-yielding years in following them during the day. If human interference in these hills is minimised the hills will prove far more productive, can will help the national development effort better, than if they are exploited through wasteful practices as is being done at present. Recommendations: 1. Greening of our hills of Western Ghats and their utilization on a sustainable basis depend on the replacement of certain ecologically harmful social practices such as shifting cultivation, keeping unlimited number of cattle per family and letting the cattle loose in the wild to graze. These practices need to be regulated by legislation and the creation of a Hills Extension Service to create awareness of the legislation, to induce hill-residents to form cooperatives for the rational utilization of hill-slopes and to offer technical guidance and education to the residents. 2. The present minimum cost of greening the hill-slopes for their productive use on sustainable basis, is beyond the means of individual residents of the hills. They will need financial support for at least the initial 5 years. Financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies should be advised to evolve suitable modes of financing the hill-slope development plans formulated by cooperatives of residents. 3. The hill-slope development plans that the cooperatives of residents will develop for being considered by the financial institutions, need to be formulated very carefully on sound ecological basis. Local NGOs together with the Hills Extension Service should be involved in training the members of the cooperatives and help them formulate suitable plans. 4. It is necessary to minimise human interference in large areas of our hills of allow indigenous flora and fauna to stage a comeback. As such people who would offer voluntarily to quit should be encouraged by financial incentives and alternative employment in the plains, to move from the hills area to the plains. 5. The activities of those who decide to stay on in the hills need to be regulated by legislation. They should be provided licenses to keep cattle on the basis of their capacity to stallfeed them. The practice of letting cattle loose on government lands needs to be replaced by providing rights to cooperatives to cut grass on the basis of the number of licensed cattle held by members of the cooperative. Existing rights of the people in this respect need to be suitably modified by legislation. 6. Grazing on forest lands in the hills needs to be stopped immediately. These forest lands should be clubbed together to make a continuous stretch of protected area available for the development of indigenous flora and fauna. A continuous stretch of protected forest should especially cover the hill-tops. Private lands coming in the way of a continuous forest tract, should be acquired. No state Forest Department will be able to make the acquisition and maintain large stretches of protected forest out of their own resources. Central assistance should be made available to them under the Western Ghats Development Programme. 7. Such continuous stretches of forest in Western Ghats should be given the National Park status. 8. Local NGOs should be encouraged to conduct research on the various aspects of forest ecology such as cultivation and uses of indigenous plants, study of animal/bird/plant interactions, testing of medicinal properties of plants and raising of rare and valuable plant species in nurseries. WORLD'S RELIGIONS TO MEET FOR ECO '92 A Committee composed of representatives of the world's major religions is forming under the auspices of the Wainwright House, based at New York, in order to bring the moral and ethical discussions of the development debate into the Eco '92 process..... The International Coordinating Committee on Religion and the Earth (ICCRE) stems from a United Nations Church Centre meeting in October last year, which challenged religious leaders 'to examine the attitudes and values that underpin the actions of the world's people. The leaders there decided that the world's religions had something to add to questions of interaction between humanity and earth and proceeded to form ICCRE to introduce a religious perspective into the Eco '92 process. They will also encourage their constituents to place the environment on their religious agendas. The ICCRE plans to issue a publication that will reflect the "spiritual state of the world by examining the commonality and diversity in the traditions of the various religions". This news item opens up new dimension of optimism for the future. Will a day come (soon)when donations to religious institutions will take the form of donations for planting trees? Eucalyptus without ground cover -------------------------------